Mayernik's sketchbook Madness

[ChrisMayernik]

I'm Chris. I draw.



Heres a good method to practice.

All you need is windows xp or if you have a mac find a screensaver that allows you to have images change every 2 minutes or less. I use windows xp so what I do is put hundreds of images in the my pictures folder and then right click the destop/properties/screensaver and set the time to 2 minutes then click preview. This is by far the most fun practice I do because I never know what image is going to come up next and I know I have only 2 minutes to get it done. This helps me find the big shapes fast, improve my hand eye coordination, and greatly increases my design knowledge.

In one hour I do 30 images or more because sometimes I'l finish before the 2 minutes and just move on.


I drew these today at star bucks. They are all about 5 to 12 seconds. I've worked pretty hard to be able to draw fast and accurately.


These are from one of my quick sketch sessions using the screensaver




sketches from borders books.


sketch from star bucks. Something I really like to do is just circle the highlights and outline the lighted areas when sketching fast. It's not always important that you render everything but know where the highlights are and mark them.



20 second sketch from library

This one is older but I kinda liked it's sketchy quility. 4 minutes

older ink sketch from last semester- 30 minute pose



I have a study book dedicated to light. Many many notes are in there and lots of little paintings like these to practice value. They are done in acrylic which I can't stand but right now my I'm not allowed to use oil where I am staying.

Both done at star bucks. One at night and when in the day





Here is a old ship design I did earlier this year but never finished on paper. After I scanned it in I used a brush set to vivid light at 20 percent and added the highlights and lights.



Here is a screenshot of a robot I'm making . It goes along with this months study of highlights and reflections. So far I've spent 7 hours on it.
check out the making of it so far at sijun http://forums.sijun.com/viewtopic.php?t=39268



alright. That's it for now. Later.

[IanE]

Very good work.

I espeically liked your light studies at Starbucks and quick sketches from Borders.

Even though the last image loaded fine for me (T1), try and keep them under 800x800 for the dial-up users.

Very cool work, keep the posts coming, man!

Ian

[Mattinian]

Awesome! You`re going to become my rolemodel if you keep this up:]
I`m definetly going to try the screensaver tehcnique.

[ChrisMayernik]

IanE: Thanks for the tip. I'l try to keep the images smaller next round.

Mattinian: Thanks for stoppping by. Do try the screensaver idea cause it is really helpful if you do it every other day for like 2 hours or everyday for 1 hour. I mix it up a little every week.

[ChrisMayernik]

some speed paints.

[ChrisMayernik]

here are some 2 minute or less sketches.







Baja fresh and star bucks are my two main sketching places. I do all my quick studies at baja fresh cause it always has big lines and I get sometimes 20 seconds to sketch a pose.
baja fresh under 30 seconds




Star bucks

[goosehole]

Nice fluid style.

Robot background needs cropping.

Speed paints arent as good as the rest of your work..

[ChrisMayernik]

goosehole: Thanks.

Yea the robot is just for practice so I never planned it out. It's just coming together as I work on it.

My speed paints are really studies of things I studied earlier in the day. There just not as good because I'm trying out new formulas or light effects and in the end I'm really not looking to make them good as I am looking to find out if what I studied makes sense when I try to apply it to my work.

[~Faust~]

Nice lines, mister! I like the colors in the paintings. Good stuff.

[cthomp]

man you draw super loose. i really like the wip of the mech. you seem to have spent alot of time one it.

[asoir]

Kick ass style, screensaver technique is a fantastic idea! Nice one, thanks!

[ChrisMayernik]

...and I shall name it Tic Tac Sumo.

This was my entry to pop photos digital wizard 2005 contest. I won 2nd place.
It was much harder to come up with a good idea this year because of the pictures they chose. At the time when I was making this I was learning a lot about light so I ended up going back and changing things many times as I discovered new information. It's not perfect but the contest is over and I won so I dont see any reason to go back and work on it more.

[ChrisMayernik]

some speed paints. I gotta start using references.

[ChrisMayernik]

Some acrylic sketches from earlier today.





hm... foot.

[ChrisMayernik]

More Stuf!! gotta keep my sketch book alive cause I know so mannyyyy people are checking it out. woo hoo 150!

I just couldnt get these right in 2 minutes. Both eyes are hard for me to get right.



Baja fresh sketches. wwaaahahahahaha. Look at them just giving free life poses for me. waahahaha yes more more!
first two are 15 seconds.




Some old stuff from last semester that nobody has seen.

both 20 minutes


yea the top ellipse is wrong. Pastel around 20 minutes.

[flex mathews]

great stuff chris, i really like the digital work. especially the mech and sumo one. my only crit (and i've told you this in person) is to slow down when doing studies and life stuff. try to be more accurate and dont be satisfied until you get it right. when you slow down and look more, your studies will improve dramatically and you'll learn alot more. speed is important to some extent but accuracy is the whole point of doing studies.

awsome to see you posting, keep up the good work.

[ChrisMayernik]

flex mathews: Thanks. I'l try to do some longer studies. I usually do lots of long studies when it comes to anatomy but I don't post those because of all the text all over the place. I name all the muscles and bone then use a red pencil to draw the muscles and bones over drawings. They just are really messy. I still want to try out that online painting program with you. Also we got to go check out that gallery I was telling you about.

Some today from Baja fresh and star bucks. I did a 40 minute portrait at star bucks and I will post it when the guy sends me a scan of it.

[ChrisMayernik]

[ChrisMayernik]

Lighting practice.

[blackswordsman28]

I'm reallly digging your painter work man

especially the ship and the mecha

please.....keep em coming

[Mr.Blonde]

I love the two most recent paintings, very spontaneous, very good. The man on the beach is foreshortened wrong, I'm sorry I can't say how to do it right... I struggle with foreshortening myself. His torso is also too short. However, the mood and quality of the painting is somehow still great even with these anatomy issues.

[ChrisMayernik]

Mr.Blonde: thanks for stopping by. He's actually suppose to be a boy but I have never drawn a kid so I just shortened the space between the pelvis and thorax. Honestly though when I do speed paintings I am only concerned with getting the values right or trying out new ideas. Any kind of design study I do on paper because it's just more practical that way. I gotta check my loomis book to see where I went wrong with the kid proportion wise.

[ChrisMayernik]

some uhh.. quick anatomy drawings. From memory. I've studied the whole upper body and pelvis this past 2 months so now I'm going to start on the legs. If you are just starting anatomy do remember all the names and landmarks. It will make it much much easier to draw from your memory if you know how the body works and knowing the names will help you remember what to put down and where it goes.

[ChrisMayernik]

Self potrait

I don't got a mirror here, I had a huge one before I moved but theres no space where I am now. so I was looking around and I found that I can barely see myself in the large glass door leading outside but I must try. After about 2 hours my hours my eyes were hurting really bad. I had to quit. I'm just going to buy a small mirror.

the one on the left is what I painted, but at the end I raised the brightness and contrast and I thought I'd post that version also. I like the colors.

[ChrisMayernik]

sometimes we have to kill the things we love... yes I'm talking about pets. hm.. kinda forgot to fix the shadows on the polls, but It's ok.

[Pesmerga]

Your sketchbook is amazing! I love your paintings a lot.

Looks like you draw pretty fast too. I'll keep an eye on this thread. 5 stars worthy if you ask me.

[ChrisMayernik]

Don't think I'l be sketching in pen anymore. haha not like I've done it before. Just been trying it the past couple days and at first I thought it was sweet but then I realized that if I make a mistake I'm toast. wheres my Ctrl+Z when I need it. No references used.

[knowmind]

chris,good to see your stuff here,some different stuff than i have seen on Sijun.
listen to Flex,hes right on the money,slow down,take your time,only be as fast as accuracy allows...i know..i suffer from the same thing..

[ChrisMayernik]

knowmind:

I do many slow anatomy drawings but I don't post those because they are just copies from reference. He's right about slowing down though when I actually try to sketch something. I've been trying to draw slower and it's helped a lot because it gives me time to remember what I studied. I'l do some slow life drawings this week then post them.

[ChrisMayernik]

two little speed paints. bottom one is a study of how the sun effects the colors and values of the trees when I don't let my eyes adjust to the light.